UK Probes Iran Link to RAF Fairford Bomb Plot; Trump Praises US-UK Cooperation

British counter-terrorism police are investigating a potential link to Iran after five men were arrested on suspicion of terror offenses near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on Sunday. The base is used by the United States Air Force for operations that include those against Iran.

If an Iranian connection is confirmed, investigations are expected to focus on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its elite foreign operations arm, the Quds Force. This unit is responsible for covert operations outside Iran and has been increasingly scrutinized for allegedly using criminal networks and proxies to carry out missions on foreign soil.

The Quds Force, headed by Esmail Qaani, who took command in January 2020 after the U.S. killed his predecessor Qassem Soleimani, is tasked with building, funding, arming, and coordinating Iran's allied armed groups across the Middle East. However, its activities have extended globally.

Recent years have seen European security services uncover Iranian plots involving assassinations, kidnappings, and attacks against dissidents, Jewish targets, and Iranian opposition figures. According to researchers tracking Iranian external operations since 1979, approximately half of the 218 identified plots worldwide have occurred in Europe. The pace of these plots has reportedly increased, with Britain's MI5 Director General Ken McCallum stating in October 2025 that his agency had tracked over twenty potentially lethal Iran-linked plots in a single year.

A concerning tactic involves the use of ordinary criminals and gang members as proxies. Ramin Yektaparast, a German-Iranian gang leader and former Hells Angels member, was allegedly recruited by the Quds Force for plots targeting Jewish sites in Germany. He was suspected of helping organize attacks on synagogues in November 2022, where shots were reportedly fired and a Molotov cocktail was thrown. Yektaparast, after fleeing Germany, was reportedly assassinated by Israel's Mossad in Tehran.

Intelligence sources familiar with the case suggested that Iranians valued Yektaparast's reputation as a violent gang leader with an extensive network and his willingness to carry out demanded attacks. He was subsequently reportedly passed to Quds Force Unit 840, described as the regime's 'terror export' unit, which operates a network of criminal proxies across Europe.

In July 2025, France, Britain, the United States, Germany, and several other governments jointly condemned Iran's use of transnational repression, including assassination attempts, kidnappings, and intimidation on foreign soil. The reach of Iran's foreign operations has also extended to the U.S. A 2022 indictment accused an IRGC-linked operative of attempting to recruit an assassin on American soil for a plot targeting former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former State Department official Brian Hook have also been placed under extended protective security due to ongoing threats from Iran.

Reports from July of this year, citing unnamed Israeli intelligence sources, alleged that the Quds Force had established a unit known as 'Mukhtar,' which is reportedly working with Mexican cartel networks and Iranian diaspora members to target President Donald Trump and other senior U.S. officials, though this has not been independently corroborated.

The incident at RAF Fairford was foiled after a local farmer spotted suspicious vehicles heading towards the airbase. The farmer alerted police and neighbors, leading to the swift deployment of armed police who arrested five men. The arrests occurred just minutes later, with dramatic footage showing the suspects in handcuffs.

In July, Iran's Revolutionary Guard had warned that any base used in air strikes on the Islamic Republic was a legitimate target, with Iranian ambassador Seyed Ali Mousavi previously stating that allowing U.S. bombers to launch from RAF Fairford was an important matter for their self-defense.

Upon landing back in Washington, President Trump praised the U.S.-UK cooperation in foiling the attack, stating that the group was known to police and intended to cause significant damage to U.S. forces. "We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort, and working with the British worked out great," Trump said, adding that authorities had them "under view for a long time, and we got them."